CV

Personal summary

In January 2020 I started as a Research Scientist at Simula Research Laboratory in the department for Scientific Computing. In relation to me starting at Simula we also established the bioAI group of which I am the group leader.

Before I started as a Research Scientist I was a Postdoc at the department of physics at the University of Oslo (UiO), Norway. During my postdoc we started the bioAI group

I have a PhD in Neuroscience from UiO and a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics at the Norwegian University of Life sciences.

My fields of interests are neuroscience, biologically inspired artificial intelligence, and causal inference.

Personal Information

• Name: Mikkel Elle Lepperød
• Date of Birth: 14.09.1985
• Sex: Male
• Nationality: Norwegian
• ORCID: 0000-0002-4262-5549
• Personal Websites:
  • Simula Research Laboratory Profile
  • Google Scholar

Education

2020

• Ph.D. in Neuroscience: “Dissecting neuronal circuits for navigation in experiments and models”
  • Faculty: Medicine, Division of Physiology
  • Institution: University of Oslo (UiO), Norway
  • Supervisors: Torkel Hafting, Marianne Fyhn, Gaute Einevoll, Trygve Solstad

2014

• M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics: “Numerical stability of a scalar neural-field model with a sigmoidal firing-rate function”
  • Faculty: Mathematics
  • Institution: Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
  • Supervisors: John Wyller, Bjørn Fredrik Nielsen

Positions - Current and Previous

• 2023 – Present
  • Adjunct Associate Professor (20%)
    • Department: Physics
    • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2022 – Present
  • Research Scientist (equivalent to Assistant Professor)
    • Employer: Simula Research Laboratory (Simula), Norway
• 2022 – 2023
  • Researcher (20%)
    • Department: Physics
    • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2020 – 2022
  • Postdoctoral Fellow
    • Department: Biosciences
    • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway

Career Breaks

• 2017, 2020: Parental leave (5 months each)

Mobility

• 2017 / 2018
  • Visiting Researcher (6 months)
    • Lab: Stefan Leutgeb’s Lab
    • Institution: University of California San Diego, USA
• 2016
  • Visiting Researcher (1 month)
    • Lab: Marc de Kamps’ Lab
    • Institution: University of Leeds, UK

Project Management Experience

• 2020 – Present
  • Project Owner: Simula Research Laboratory
  • Project: Bio-AI (~10 MNOK)
  • Role: Group Leader / Principal Investigator
  • Funder: Simula Research Laboratory
• 2020 – 2022
  • Project Owner: University of Oslo
  • Project: Neuro-AI (16 MNOK)
  • Role: Acting Co-Principal Investigator
  • Funder: Research Council of Norway (RCN)

Supervision

Postdoctoral Researchers

• 2022
  • Name: Sidney Pontes-Filho
  • Role: Main Supervisor
  • Institution: Simula Research Laboratory, Norway

PhD Students

• 2023 – 2027
  • Name: Nicolai Haug
  • Role: Main Supervisor
  • Institution: Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
• 2022 – 2025
  • Name: Markus Pettersen
  • Role: Main Supervisor
  • Institution: Simula Research Laboratory, Norway
• 2022 – 2026
  • Name: Mia Kvalsund
  • Role: Main Supervisor
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2021 – 2024
  • Name: Konstantin Holzhausen
  • Role: Main Supervisor
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2021 – 2024
  • Name: Priya Tarigopula
  • Role: Main Supervisor
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2020 – 2024
  • Name: Vemund Schøyen
  • Role: Acting Main Supervisor (Last author on all papers)
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2021 – 2024
  • Names: Mateusz Wasiluk, Frederik Rogge, Maria Fjelstad, Krubeal Danieli
  • Role: Co-Supervisor
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway

Supervision of Master’s Students

• 2024
  • Students: Vilde Ung, Janita Willumsen
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2023
  • Students: Sara Jensen, Herman Brunborg
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2022
  • Student: Markus Pettersen
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2018
  • Student: Mina Frey
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway

Supervision of Intern Students

• 2018 – 2024
  • Number of Students: 22
  • Institution: University of Oslo, Norway
• 2023
  • Number of Students: 2
  • Institution: Simula Research Laboratory, Norway

Other Relevant Professional Experiences

• Reviewer: PLOS Computational Biology, Nature Machine Intelligence, eNeuro, Neural Computing and Applications,

• Editor Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience Towards bio-inspired machine learning

• 2024
  • Organizer: 4-day NeuroAI workshop on the Hurtigruten (37 participants): VValidating models: How would success in NeuroAI look like?
  • Co-Organizer: Simula-NCMM workshop (40 participants)
  • Selected for: AI Task Force at Simula, establishing a Simula-wide AI strategy
  • Co-Organizer: Strategic RRI seminar for Simula (45 participants)
• 2023
  • Co-Organizer: Workshop on best practices in open-source software development (20 participants)
  • Co-Organizer: Strategic AI & Ethics seminar for Simula; contributed talk and panel discussion (40 participants)
  • Review Editor: Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience and Computational Physiology
  • Co-Organizer: Three NeuroAI workshops aiming to connect national and international labs (20–30 participants)
• 2022
  • Selected for: Simula’s ERC Incubator, a support program for candidates aiming to submit an ERC Starting Grant
  • Lead Role in: Establishing NeuroAI as a focus field in collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Research and the US Department of Energy
  • Participant: Intensive leadership course at Wharton Executive Education, “High-Potential Leaders: Accelerating Your Impact”
• 2019
  • Co-Organizer: Data management workshop in Trondheim with international experts from Neuro Data Without Borders and DataJoint (20 participants)
• 2018
  • Invited Software Developer: NWB hackathon days at Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Started development of a backend for storing data using Exdir, software co-developed
• 2017
  • Software Developer: NEST version 2.12.0 and 2.16.0, part of the Human Brain Project for simulating large-scale neural networks (led to collaboration with Marc de Kamps)
• 2017 – 2019
  • Data Manager: DigiBrain project at the University of Oslo (25% time commitment), Digital Life Norway
• 2015 – 2019
  • Lecturer: “Computing in Biological Sciences” (25% time commitment), University of Oslo, Norway
• 2015
  • Assistant Organizer: Workshop in Neuroscience Methods (30 participants), University of Oslo, Norway

Memberships / Networks

• 2023
  • Board Member: Special Interest Group for NeuroAI Norway, aiming to establish NeuroAI as a prospering research field in Norway
    • Website: NORA SIG NeuroAI

Major Collaborations

• 2023 – Present
  • Project: Deep learning for drug discovery using heart-on-a-chip technology
  • Collaborators: Prof. Aslak Tveito, Research Prof. Samuel Wall, Research Prof. Andy Edwards
• 2023 – 2024
  • Project: Normative models of hippocampal activity
  • Collaborator: Associate Prof. Blake Richards, Mila and McGill University
  • Role: Co-Principal Investigator, PhD exchange
• 2018 – Present
  • Project: Causal discovery in the brain
  • Collaborator: Prof. Konrad Kording, University of Pennsylvania
  • Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Author
  • Publication: One co-publication
• 2017 – Present
  • Project: Experimental methods for dissecting spatial navigation
  • Collaborator: Prof. Stefan Leutgeb, University of California San Diego
  • Role: Co-Supervisor for visiting PhD students
• 2016 – Present
  • Project: Density methods for simulating spiking neural networks
  • Collaborator: Prof. Marc de Kamps, University of Leeds
  • Role: Co-Principal Investigator and Co-Author
  • Publications: Two publications

Technical

• Expert: Python, LaTeX, Git, Linux,
• Intermediate: PyTorch Docker Bash, Matlab, Jupyter, C++,

Scholarships and Awards

• Research exchange scholarship to University of California San Diego (UCSD)
  • Given by the Research council of Norway
  • Visited the Leutgeb lab
• Erasmus scholarship
  • Given to exchange students in Europe.

Other Qualifications and Activities

Invited Speaker

• AI Week OsloMet 2023
• Keynote Speaker: Young Researchers in NeuroAI Conference, NMBU 2023
• INC Chalk Talk, University of San Diego, USA
• NRSN Conference 2021 - Seminar on Bio-Inspired Computing

Media Appearances and Publications

• Interviewed by Titan.uio.no, cross-posted on digi.no:
  • “Hjerneforskning vil gi oss bedre kunstig intelligens”
• Guest on the Jøss Podcast (appeared twice, ~4,000 monthly listeners)
• Authored Opinion Editorial on Ethics in AI:
  • “Debatt: Norge som fanebærer for etikk i en uforutsigbar framtid”
• Interviewed by NRK for a news article about optogenetics as a treatment option for major depression:
  • “Laseren som kan løse depresjonsgåten”

References

For more information, please visit my Simula Research Laboratory Profile or my Google Scholar page.